Feeder for nut dipping and coating machines.



J. CONTE. FEEDER FOR NUT DIPPING AND COATING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 30, I914.

l /77z e/2 es 600% Patented Oct. 26, 1915.

4 SHEETS- SHEET I I. CONTE. FEEDER FOR NUT DIPPING AND COATING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 30. I9I4.

Patented Oct. 26,

4 SHEEISSHEET 2.

J. CONTE. FEEDER FOR NUT DIPPING AND COATING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILEDJULY 30, I914.

wmm Patented 001;. 26, 1915..

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3,

. 751 Z? 5135):) all f HIHIH In I l J 1. CONTE.

FEEDER FOR NUT DIPPING AND COATING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 30| 1914.

Patented Oct. 26, 1915.

4 SHEETSSHEET 4.

1 fl j J 000%,

JAMES CONTE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FEEDER FOR NUT DIPPING AND COATING MACHINES.

risenao.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented wet/$26, 191%..

Application filed July 30, 1914. Serial No. 854,049.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, JAMES contra, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Feeders for Nut Dippingand Coating Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a mechanism for feeding nuts to a chocolatecoating and dipping machine and more particularly to a machine that willsort and throw out defective nut kernels before reaching the coater.

Heretofore it has been the practice to feed mechanical nut coaters anddippcrs. by hand and in order to feed rapidly it has been necessary toemploy several attendants upon each side of the feed apron or conveyerof the coatingmachine. In addition to feeding the kernels upon the apronit has been the duty of these operatives to sort and throw out alldefective kernels. Or when suitable mechanical feeding has been employedit has required the labor of several attendants to sort or pick out thedefective or imperfect kernels while the mechanical feeder was inoperation. The wage item for these operatives or attendants has been asource of considerable expense to manufacturers of chocolate coated nutconfections, as well as a laborious and uncertain method of operation,and it is to overcome these disadvantages and reduce this expense that Ihave devised my feeder and sorter mechanism.

The particular object of my invention is the construction of a suitablemechanism that will effectively and automatically perform the sortingoperation which has here tofore been done by manual labor.

Another object is to provide suitable devices whereby the nut kernelsafter being sorted will be arranged in rows and fed to shakers thatconvey the" kernels to the dipper or coater.

A still further object is to so construct my invention that it may beattached at its discharge end to any well-known or convenient coatingmachine without the necessity of alteration or special parts for eitherdevice. And lastly it is an object of my invention to construct amachine that will not require the handling of the nut kernels by theoperator; is so simple and easy to operate that only one attendant isrequired to manipulate it; is rapid in its operation, and economical tomanufacture.

These, and other objects I prefer to accomplish by the means and in themanner hereinafter fully described and as more particularly pointed outin \the claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawlngs forminga part hereof wherein similar reference characters indicate the sameparts in the various figures.

In the drawings :Figure 1 is a vertical side elevation of the outer orhopper end of my invention; Fig. 2 is. a continuation of Fig. '1 showingthe opposite or discharge end of the feeder and illustrating the mannerof attaching my invention to a chocolate coater or dipper machine; Fig.3 is a top plan view of the outer or hopper end of the machine as shownin Fig. 1; Fig. I is a top plan view of the discharge end of the machineas shown in Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 is a detail view of one of the driveshafts and connected elements.

Referring to the drawings, A, represents the receiving portion of anywell-known chocolate coating ordipping machine and B is the usualconveyer apron forming a part of the same and leading thereto, that isdriven thereby and which extends horizontally outwardly a distance toaccommodate several operators upon each side whose duty it has been toplace the perfect or in-- tegral nut kernels upon the same in spacedrows, so that each kernel was separated from the preceding andsucceeding kernels a distance to be properly received by the machine.

Mounted in any suitable manner in front of the conveyer so that aportion thereof overhangs the same is the metal base or frame 10 of mysorting and feeding device. This frame is preferably of cast-metal,rectangular in shape, and its longitudinal sides are preferablyincreased in height about midway their length and slope toward theirinner ends to provide a support 11 for one of the elements of my deviceto be hereinafter explained.

Journaled in suitable bearings ."(not shown) below the base frame 10 isthe main drive-shaft 12 that is indicated diagrammatically for thepurpose of clearness, and said shaft through suitable intermediariesdrives a short shaft 13 the axis of which is vertically disposed andwhich is journaled 11h in suitable bearings 14 on the side of themachine. Shaft 13 extends above the horizontal plane of thebase frameand is provided with a beveled gear 15 meshing with a similar gear 16upon the adjacent end of horizontally disposed shaft 17 that extendstransversely across the base frame in a plane slightly above the latterwhere it is journaled in bearings upon the side of said base frame. Theportion of Vertical shaft 13 above bevel gear 15 has a sprocket 18 and agrooved pulley 9 secured-thereto, and it isthrough the intermediary ofthe above described elements that the various parts of my invention areadapted to be operated.

Adjacent the outer end of the base frame are substantially U-shapedbrackets 20, in the upper portions of the parallel arms of which ahopper 21 is mounted to receive the nut kernels as they comeindiscriminately from the shellers. Said hopper is substantiallytriangular shaped in section and the lowermost portion 22 of its bottomis semi-' circular as shown. The means for elevating and removing thenut kernels from this hopper comprises a suitable link-belt conveyer 23upon which is mounted a plurality of buckets or scoops 24. The chains ofthis conveyer pass around sprockets 25 journaled at the radial centersof the semi-circular lower portion of the hopper from thence passupwardly and around sprockets 26 mounted in bearings adjacent the upperedge of said hopper. I prefer to make these upper bearings adjustableand for this purpose an elongated inclined recess 27 is cut in the upperportion of the hopper side wall and the same is bridged by a suitablebracket 28 which latter is provided with an elongated slot thatregisters with and forms a continuation of the'slot 27 in the hopperside wall. The bearing blocks 29 for the sprockets 26 are slidablymounted in this slot and are adjustable up or down by means of bolts 30the lower ends of which are swiveled on said blocks 29 and the upperends of which pass through screw-threaded bearings in the upper ends ofsaid brackets 28.

he conveyer sprockets are driven by means of a chain 31 that passesaround a sprocket 32 fast on the extended end of the sprocket-shaft 33and the opposite end of sald cham 31 passes around a sprocket 34 mountedadjacent the driving shafts of the machine, while mediate said sprockets32 and 34 said chain engages suitable idlers 35 and 36 that are adaptedto take up the slack therein. The driving sprocket 34 is secured on theend of a horizontally disposed shaft 37 extending across the base-frameandbetween said sprocket and the bearings in the base frame said shafthas a pinion 38 mounted thereonthat meshes with and derives its motionfrom a pinion 39 fast on the adjacent end of shaft 17 hereinbeforementioned.

The nut kernels upon leaving the buckets 24 gravitate and fall upon aroller 40 which latter is mounted on the same shaft 41 that carries theupper sprockets 26 of the conveyer. This roller tosses the nut kernelsupon a shelf 42 that inclines upwardly from its lower end, where it ispivoted upon hori zontal bars 43 projecting from the hopper, to a pointadjacent the circumference of said roller 40 and is kept pressed towardsaid roller by a coiled contraction spring 44 having one end connectedto, the side-bars 45 of said shelf and its opposite end secured to theadjacent Wall of the hopper.

One of the side-bars 45 has a bearing in its outer end in which ananti-friction roller 46 is journaled and which serves to raise the barsand shelf each time said roller is engaged by one of the cam arms 47mounted upon the periphery of a spider wheel 48 that is secured to androtates with shaft 41 outside the hopper. There may be two or more camarms upon the Wheel 48 and they are so arranged that one of said armswill engage the roller and lift the shelf after each bucket hasdischarged its load and begins to travel over the upper reach of theconveyer in order that said bucket will escape the shelf in its downwardcourse, and so soon as the bucket has moved past the shelf the latterwill be automatically dropped back in proper position to receive theload from the succeeding bucket.

' Upon leaving the shelf 42 the nut kernels fall upon an assortingdevice Where the broken and half-kernels are automatically ejected fromthe machine. This device comprises a suitable frame made up of sidepieces 49 and end pieces 50 that is preferably rectangular shaped and isdisposed in an inclined plane from its receiving end downwardly to itsdischarging end. In the space between the side pieces 49 is disposed aplurality of slats 51 that extend longitudinally of said frame and arespaced apart a distance suflicient to permit the imperfect (broken orhalved) kernels to fall between said slats and cause the perfect kernelsto rest upon and slide down the slats toward the coating device. Belowthe assorting frame is a suitable metal trough 52 upon which theimperfect kernels fall from said frame and which mediate its ends isprovided with a vertically disposed chute 53 through which saidimperfect kernels fall to a suitable receptacle (not shown) below thesame. The assorting frame is preferably pivoted at its lower end to thewall 11 of the base frame as shown, while its upper end is adapted to bevibrated in a vertical direction as will now be described.

Secured to the upper edge of the frame in any suitable manner is asubstantially L-shaped bracket 54 to which is secured a verticallydisposed vibratory bar 55 that has a wedge-shaped enlargement 56 uponits the upper bearing 57. Between the upper bearing 57 and bracket 54said bar is surrounded by a smaller but weaker coiled eX- pansion spring62 that is adapted to cushion the vibrations of the assorting frame andvibratory bar. r

The means for causing the vibration of bar 55 comprises a rotatable disk63 that is provided with serrations or teeth 64 upon its upper face,which teeth are adapted to en gage the wedge face of the enlargement 56on the lower end of said bar. Said disk 63 is rotated by a verticallydisposed spindle 65 upon the upper end of which said disk is secured andwhich 1s mounted 1n bearlngs 66 secured to the side of the base frame 10and in bearings 67 in the lower'end of the standard 59. A sprocket 68 ismounted upon the spindle between bearings 67 and the disk 63 which isdriven by a chain 69 extending to the side of the base ,frame whereiitengages a sprocket 70 mounted upon an idle spindle 71. Above sprocket 70is a larger sprocket 72 that meshes with a drive-chain 7 3 which latterderives its motion from the sprocket 18, mounted on the verticalshort-shaft or spindle 13 hereinbefore described.

Upon leaving the assorting frame the perfect kernels slide upon astationary metal tray 7 1 that extends transversely across the apparatusand is provided with substantially parallel corrugations or ridges 75that are disposed longitudinally of the apparatus and between which thekernels are adapted to gravitate. The inclination of this tray isconsiderably greater than that of the assorting frame so that thekernels will be given impetus sufficient to convey them on a shortconveyer apron 76 that passes under the lowermost edge of said tray. Theend of the conveyer adjacent the end of the tray passes around a driveroller 77 mounted on shaft 17 between the bearings of the latter whilethe opposite'end of'said conveyer which is in a horizontal planeslightly below that of the axis of said drive roller -and passes aroundasmall adjustable roller 78. The shaft of roller 78 is journaled in moV-.

able bearing blocks 79 that slide in guideways 80 formed by cuttinghorizontal lateral slots in the side members of the baseframe adjacentthe ends thereof, and said blocks are adjusted by means of bolts 81having swiveled connection with said blocks and passing throughscrew-threaded lugs 82 projecting laterally from the base-frame adjacentone end of the slats. The upper stretch of this conveyer travels towardthe coating machine as indicated by the arrow and its lower stretch isin a horizontal plane slightly above the upper stretch of the feed apronB of said coating machine which likewise travels in the same directionbut at a greater speed.

. Mounted above and preferably in contact with conveyer 76 is a pivotedshaker frame that comprises a plurality of relatively wide parallelspaced slats 83 that are pointed at their outer ends and are securedtotransverse forward and rear end pieces 84 and 85 respectively. Asubstantially L-shaped bracket 86 having an elongated lateral arm 87 isbolted to the base frame adjacent itsend and said arm is provided at itsend with a bearing boss 88 to which the shaker frame is pivotallysecured. Secured to suitable adj acent members of the coating machineslightly above the apron B thereof is a suitable yoke 89 that isprovided about midway its length with a lateral horizontal boss 90 fromwhich latter a vertical stud 91 depends. This stud carries upon itslower end a supplementary shaker frame constructed similar to thefirst-mentioned shaker frame and consisting of a plurality ofhorizontally arranged longitudinally disposed parallel slats 92 that arepointed at their outer ends and are connected together in spacedrelation to each other by means of transverse mem bers 93 and 94:. Theparallel slats 92 are preferably just above the plane of the upperstretch of the conveyer B so that the kernels that have been dischargedthereupon may be kept in alinement in parallel rows up to the time theyreach the treating element of the coating machine.

The outer end of L-shaped bracket 86 is provided with a verticallydisposed bearing boss 95 in which the spindle 96 of a pulley 97 isjournaled and said pulley is driven by a belt or strap 98 that passesaround the same and a pulley 19 upon the upper eX- tended end of spindle13 hereinbeforedescribed. A crank pin 100 is secured eccentrically tosaid pulley 97 and a downwardly curved link 101 has one of its endsconnected thereto and its opposite end pivotally connected to the shakerframe-cross bar 93 as shown so that the rotation of said pulleywillreciprocate said frame laterally across the conveyer B as will beunderstood.

A bell-crank lever having a long arm 102 and a short arm 103 is slidablymounted upon a pivot 104 projecting upwardly from a lug 105 on bracket86 and passing through a slotted bearing 106 at the elbow of said arms102 and 103. The free end of arm 103 is connected by a bar 107 to theadjacent cross member 93 of the inner shaker frame so that when thelatter frame is moved a slight distance in the one direction or theother the outer shaker frame will be moved slightly in a directionopposite thereto, as indicated by the arrows upon cross members 93 and84.

From the above it will be understood that the nut kernels after beingdischarged from the hopper'21 will be sorted upon the vibratory frameadjacent said hopper, the imperfect kernels being permitted to fallbetween the slats 51, after which the perfect kernels will gravitateupon the corrugated or grooved tray where they become bunched in rows.These rows of kernels are received upon the apron 76 and during theirtravel between the slats 83 of the outer shaker frame become slightlyseparated from each other owing to the lateral vibration of the frame,whereupon they fall off the end of said apron onto the conveyer B of thecoating machine which is traveling faster than apron 76 and therebyspaces-said kernels farther apart. Up to this time the kernels have beenin rows and the kernels in each row have been irregularly spaced apartbut upon reaching the last shaker frame which still further agitatesthem they will become approximately evenly spaced and ready to be fed tothe coating element direct from the conveyer B.

While I have herein illustrated and described a specific manner andmeans of carrying out my invention it, of course, is obvious to othersskilled in the art to which it appertalns that various modifications andrefinements of the same are possible without departing from the spiritof my lnvention, and I, therefore, desire it understood that all suchchanges and variations are included within the scope of my claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desiretosecure by Letters Patent, is

, 1. Ina device of the character described comprising in combination, aplurality of consecutively arranged frames, each frame) composed ofparallelly disposed slats suitably spaced and the slats of said framesbeing in alinementwith one another, means for delivering nut kernelsupon the first of said frames, means for imparting a verticallyreciprocable vibratory movement to said first frame, means forhorizontally reciprocating the remaining frames simultaneously with andin opposite directions to one another, and means traveling adjacent saidremaining frames adapted to carry said kernels therethrough.,

2. In a device of the character described comprising in combination, aplurality of consecutively arranged frames, each frame composed ofparallelly disposed slats suitably spaced and the slats of said framesbeing in alinement with one another, means for delivering nut kernelsupon the first of said frames, means for vibrating said first frame,means for reciprocating the remaining frames in opposite directions toone another, and means traveling adjacent said remaining frames adaptedto carry said kernels therethrough.

3. In a device of the character described comprising in combination, aplurality of consecutively arranged frames composed of parallellydisposed slats, means for delivering nut kernels upon the first of saidframes, means for vibrating said first frame, means for reciprocatingthe remaining frames, and means traveling adjacent said remaining framesadapted to carry said kernels therethrough.

4. In a device of the character described comprising in combination, alongitudinally disposed plurality of frames arranged end parallellydisposed slats suitably spaced inalinement with one another, means fordelivering nut-kernels upon the first of said frames, means forhorizontally reciprocating the remaining frames in directions oppositeto one another, and means traveling adjacent said remaining framesadapted to carry said kernels therethrough.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

JAMES CONTE. Witnesses E. K. LUNDY, Jr., WM. HAROLD EICHELMAN.

